tonight.â
âThanks.â I watched her leave, her words echoing through my mind: He can handle familiar places and situations as long as heâs on his meds.
What about unfamiliar situations? What happened to Loganâs dad then? I pushed the thought away. What happened to Warren Fairchild after we took his gold wasnât our problem.
I took my plate to the sink and ran water over it as I looked out the window, scanning the trees for parrots.
âI thought you were going to the mall?â
I jumped at the sound of the voice behind me. It was Parker, standing there in swim trunks and flip-flops, a blue knapsack in his hands.
âGod! You scared me!â I took a deep breath. âIâm picking Selena up in half an hour. You donât need the car, do you?â
He shook his head. âIâm getting a ride with the guys.â
âThe guys?â
âLogan, David, and Liam. Theyâre teaching me how to surf today.â
âOh, wow . . . you got in before me,â I said with a twinge of jealousy.
âNot really. Iâm about where you are. They invited me surfing when we won our basketball game in gym, but I wouldnât say Iâm in yet.â He grabbed a beach towel off one of the hooks on the wall by the kitchen door. âThe bonfire should help, though.â
âThe bonfire?â
âLogan invited me. I heard you were going, too.â
Guilt heated my face. âI forgot to mention it. Iâm sorry. I would have invited you when I remembered.â
Even as I said it, I wondered if it was true. If the slip had been intentional. Parker was good at a lot of things: running recon, cracking locks, and finding ways around alarm systems, working the hottestâand richestâgirls in any school. But he was also a little too good at being my slightly older brother. And while I appreciated the concern, I wasnât exactly thrilled with the idea of tiptoeing around his protective gaze.
He looked at me for a minute, like he wasnât quite sure what to say.
Finally, he sighed. âIâm just trying to look out for you.â
My heart softened. âI know that.â
âI hope so,â he said. âBecause not everybody who says they care is going to do right by you. It sucks, but itâs true.â
A car honked out front. For a moment, Parker didnât move. When he spoke again, there was something heavy and sad in his eyes.
âI havenât always done the right thing, Grace. But Iâm trying to do it now.â
He left me standing there, wondering what he meant.
Twelve
Selenaâs father was a somber man, dressed in a suit despite the fact that it was Saturday. We made small talk for a few minutes and then Selena and I were off, following the winding road down the peninsula until it picked up the Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach.
Selena teased me about staying on the highway that ran parallel to the ocean. We could get to the Galleria faster through town. But Iâd learned to take advantage of the good things my strange life had to offer. Iâd moved more times in sixteen years than most people would in a lifetime. Iâd said too many good-byes, lied so much I sometimes forgot the truth. But Iâd also watched the sun set over the desert. Iâd walked the streets of New York City in the fall, felt the bite of cold air, smelled the food from the street carts mingling with hot metal from the subway and the earthy scentof leaves blowing across the sidewalk. In DC, Iâd seen the cherry blossoms in bloom. In Seattle, Iâd raced across Puget Sound in a speedboat, staring into the depths of a sea so green it was almost surreal.
Now I was happy just to be driving with the wind in my hair, the Pacific on one side, a friend on the other. Selena turned up the music, pointing things out as we made our way toward the mall. For once, I felt free.
We cruised the Galleria, stopping in all of
Kelly Jamieson
Allan Leverone
Robert G. Santee
Betsy Haynes
Ray Bradbury
Elizabeth Knox
Randolph Lalonde
Kendall McKenna
Mia Ross
Ron Collins